We were lucky enough to get the chance to chat with Mark a little bit about working in the craft industry, how he’s built his empire, and what’s next for him. Check out our interview:

Q. You’ve had an amazingly successful career in the craft industry. What’s your secret?

A. Persistence, hard work, relentless social media marketing, interaction with everyone, being creative every day, working through the failures (and there have been quite a few!).

Q. I know you got your start in the fashion industry, what made you decide to take that focus to crafting?

A. Actually, it might be the other way around. My interest in sewing and crafting brought me to fashion and when I felt that fashion became more about production and shipping, I decided it was time to go back to my roots.

Q. You make a ton of jewelry and even put out a book with fabulous jewelry making ideas, The Big Ass Book of Bling, but do you have a favorite type of craft?

A. I love recycled paper crafts. There is such an abundance of paper in the world and I feel like we should use it for everything creative.

Q. 10 published book titles is quite the accomplishment! Do you have advice for someone who is hoping to get their designs published?

A. Figure out what makes you unique and focus on that. You’re unique-ness is the ONLY thing that will make you stand out from the crowd.

Q. What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received?

A. Be as conservative with your money as you possibly can. Only spend on what you need and avoid frivolous purchases when you’re in business until you can actually afford them. Stay away from credit cards unless you can pay them off at the end of the month in full. Don’t spend what you don’t have.

Q. Where do you look for opportunities to grow or promote your brand?

A. When an opportunity arrises, I take it. Like this interview for example!

Q. Do you make your craft tutorials based off of what your fans like, what’s popular, or what you like?

A. What I like. I seriously have to enjoy what I’m making or I don’t want to make it. If I can enjoy it, then I think other people can. I don’t follow trends and only try to give techniques rather than concrete ideas that people feel they have to follow. I like to inspire rather than dictate.

Q. What was your biggest/most memorable craft fail?

A. The Dummies Guide to Window Treatments and Slipcovers. That book is so boring! I have a list and they’re all pretty BIG and pretty awful.

Q. What inspires you?

A. Color combinations in nature, science fiction, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, interesting people who you know were an animal in a former life (Like the lady who wears only giraffe prints and is very tall, or the man who has his hair dyed like parrot feathers and eats crackers on the subway in the morning).

Q. Tell us a little about your upcoming projects. What’s next for the Mark Montano empire?

A. Right now we’re developing a show for PBS Plus. We’ve filmed the episodes and are working with PBS producers to get it right. It’s a long process and the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my ENTIRE life.

There you have it! Many, many thanks to Mark for this wonderful interview! And to help you stay on track and keep being creative we’ve got a little surprise…

Giveaway!

UPDATE:This contest is now CLOSED.

Thank you to everyone that entered the contest portion of our interview! Unfortunately, there can only be one winner this time and our random number generator picked Claire! Congrats Claire! She told us “I knit a sock that ended up comically huge. I’m not sure why I kept going even after I realized how large it was – blind hope, maybe.”

Knitters and crocheters feel your pain Claire. Hopefully, none of the projects you make from Mark’s books end up as fails. Thanks again everyone and keep your eyes open for our next giveaway.

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We’re giving away a book bundle from Mark Montano! One lucky winner will walk away with not one, not two, but three craft books.

Comments

My biggest/most memorable craft fail was my first time making candles on my own in middle school. I got a candle set with colored wax that looked like sand and all you had to do was put the wick in a pre-ready glass cup and poor in the wax. I melted all the colors in the same pan together then put them in the cups with the wicks.

When I first learned how to do paper cutting, I took on a huge challenge. I am not good at starting small. I got 3/4 of the way through cutting and make a slice through a part of the picture that could not been repaired. I had been cutting on this for about 4 hours. I had to start all over. I was so bummed, but I also learned from it.

It was trying to create a wooden crib for a gift basket. I had a cardboard one and used those dimensions but failed to take into account the with of the wood. PLUS I didn’t do a good job nailing the thing together. I still have it and plan to fix it by covering the gap with some cute moulding. It however can’t be used as a doll crib as originally intended.

I made a veil for a friends wedding and was all finished and was just steaming the wrinkles out of it and I melted a big hole in the veil. I had to cut it off of the headpiece and start over. I did get it done in time, but I was a wreck while doing it.

My biggest and most memorable fail craft was …. Would sewing some shorts for my 1st grade daughter count, and the elastic breaking during school leaving her with no shorts, count? She is a young adult now and still loves me, but never fully trusted garments I made again.

My biggest craft fail was making a decorative plate flower for my garden. I hot glued the dishes together, but a couple of days outside in the Arizona heat and it completely fell apart breaking the dishes.

I made one of those fleece blankets you hand knot the fringes instead of sewing. This was a Christmas gift for my husband. I put the front side on backwards so “HOME SWEET HOME” can only be read in the mirror.

I have made so many mistakes. My biggest fail was a skirt and vest that I made from a plaid material. I didn’t realize it was an uneven plaid when I cut the vest on the cross grain (because it wouldn’t fit otherwise). I was so proud of getting a vest in addition to the skirt. I wore it many times before I noticed the unevenness. After I noticed, I didn’t enjoy wearing that outfit again.

I went to emboss a card I was making. Had the heat gun on when I went to sprinkle on the powder and the lid popped off (forgot to tighten it after the previous project) and POOF – gold glitter embossing powder all over the table and floor! Big fail for me!

Wow! My biggest craft fail was when I first started doing ceramics. I love everything crafty but thought this would be more of a challenge. I took classes and started very small. I worked my way up to making everything pretty much by hand so I thought for Hanukkah I’d make everyone a gift. I thought a salt and pepper shaker and a soap dispenser fir the kitchen would be great. They were pretty inexpensive and a bunch of them wouldn’t take that long. Yeah right. I worked on them for a few months!!! I did all of them at the same stage and finally fired them all at once. I then painted each one and clear crazed them. All 40 of them!! What I forgot to do was to poke the holes through the clear glaze so they would be able to dispense the salt and pepper!!!!!!! I fired every single one of them without holes!!

My biggest fail was my first major sewing project as a teen. I can still remember it – a shirt dress in rose wide-wale corduroy. I lovingly sewed the entire garment with great care, and it turned out beautifully. Then I tried it on and realized that I wasn’t even close on the pattern size – I couldn’t even skin it over my head and shoulders. I was crushed, and didn’t sew again for many years!

I once made a ghost costume out of yards and yards of white tulle when I was finished crafting it, i put it in the dryer to get out the wrinkles out &…..wow what a smell . To this day I get haunted by that ghost!

One mistake that stand out is putting long sleeves in a dress. Once finished one sleeves button was on top of arm. So to top this off I tried to cut the sleeves of to make short sleeves and that ended in one sleeve shorter than the other. The dress ended up being scraps.

My biggest failure was a sewing project making a bag for my mother’s car trunk. I never could get it to
stand on it’s own, no matter what I did. Also, I made it way too big. It is still in my basement just drawing dust. Needless to say, she did not like it. One thing about it though, I learned things not to do!

I have had so many over the years!! I Guess the most recent was a vintage chair I was going to try and reupholster …something I have never tried before. When I got done…it looked disgusting! It went out to the trash.

The most memorable craft fail maybe is the creation of my previous haandmade website, totally no sales coming in. I have revamp and reaarange all the contents recently, i really hope it will be better in future.

My biggest craft fail….there were a few! I was making a costume for my daughter to wear on Halloween and accidentally cut a hole in the fabric. I managed to cover it by sewing a jewel there but to balance the outfit out I wound up sewing a bunch of jewels on to make them look like they belonged there. In the end, her costume was beautiful although it took extra work to get it there.

Being a “spend-thrift”, which comes by quite naturally, I had some fabric from a farm/household auction sale and wanted to show off to my husband (and family) my sewing skills and decided to make some lounge shorts for him to wear during an upcoming holiday vacation to his parents. The shorts fit fine, washed them up, packed away in the suitcase and the evening my husband put them on, was Christmas Eve, and little by little the shorts started to “disintegrate” right off of his body. The fabric was apparently so old and fragile that with his movements throughout the night the material just couldn’t take it anymore! My mother-in-law still comments about my sewing mishap to this day! This took place ten years ago! Needless to say, he hasn’t received any more lounge shorts made by me!!

I have embroidered quilt blocks that I originally started for a friend. I started it in 1998. I never wrote colors dowm. I went to work on it again after I got married in 2003 and had to match colors. I thought I was doing good until I realizes the main color wasn’t the same in real light. I’m still going to finish. Ill just make 2 more squares than origionally intended and make the odd ones into throw pillows.

my first most memorable craft mis-hap was my attempt at free motion quilting. I didn’t understand why it kept bunching up…. and I kept spreading out the area I was quilting — only to find that my machine didn’t drop feed dogs and I didn’t know what that meant. My lap quilt lost half it’s size and couldn’t even be used as a placemat *sigh* but the colors I picked were GORGEOUS! lol

Biggest craft failure? Over estimating , not my project needs, but my interest. Decided I wanted to make latch hook rugs. Started buying cut yarn bundles on ebay. Got so hooked into the bidding and winning, I ended up with literally thousands of the yarn bundles and only made one project with them. Still have totes full of the bundles – I really think they multiple on their own!

I love mosaics and decided to salvage some tile from my aunt and uncle’s re-modeling. I held onto the tile for quite some time until I could figure out what to do with it. I finally decided to tile the top of a table. I really should have started out smaller. I had NO idea what I was doing and ruined our kitchen table. I had to put a table cloth over it until we could afford to buy a new one.

I have so many too, but I’d have to say one that was so disheartening was making one of my mermaid tails for performing & I cut the waist too low. You can’t wear a mermaid tail with the fabric way below your belly button. There’s a huge modesty factor. There was no way to fix it, I had to start all over. oh, the joys of *merlife.*

My biggest mistake was in middle school when I tried to make earrings out of copper enameling. They weighed a bloody ton and it would have stretched anyone’s ear lopes to their knees. I still have them as a reminder to think reasonably before acting. That has been over 45 years ago and it is always a good idea to think twice and plan well.

I love crafts and I’m glad I work in a place where I can have programs for the kids to be creative. The outcome dont have to be perfect. All that matters is that they enjoy the experience in making something that they probably thought they couldn’t.

My biggest craft fail was when I tried to make a hatband for my dad. I had made several simple designs on my bead loom, but he had one that he wanted me to make for his friend that was about 12 beads wide, so I was working with smaller beads than usual, and my thread would not fit through them twice to make it sturdier. I was about halfway through when I dropped the loom–everthing unraveled and beads went everywhere. I haven’t tried one that complex or with such tiny beads again, and I am still finding beads in odd places–behind furniture, in the couch, on bookshelves, you name it!

When I was a little girl I took tap dance classes. Since my dear grandmother was somewhat of seamtress, she made my dance recital outfit for me. I remember it was chartruse satin shorts & a hot pink halter top, both with lots of fringe. During the dance, I kept feeling pokes around my waist– Grandma had left a needle in the shorts! Did I kid her about this incident in later years!

There have been sooo many,beacuse I am a huge diy person I want to try to make anything and everything,but this one really stands out in my mind.
Years ago I made a wreath for my mother’s front door. I used hot glue which is what I always use for wreaths on my door. Little did I realize that my moms door faces the sun and on the first week of hot summer all the hot glue melted and all of the flowers and decorations came off the only adornment left was the bow which I had wired on. It was literaly a hot mess!

My biggest craft fail was when the really long scarfs was popular, so I crocheted one for myself and I addeded fringe to it. I thought it looked nice, so wore it to work one day. And someone in my office said who made this rag. I was so embrassed because I thought it looked like the pattern but evidently it didn’t. So I ended up taking all the stitches out.

A few years back, prior to having children, I had volunteered to do a Mother’s Day craft for a friend’s 3rd grade class. I thought I’d made it really simple, but quickly realized I had made it too complicated. We made pots and used supplies on hand in the classroom (except the pots, dirt and seeds). The kids decorated their pots with tissue paper, stickers, glitter, paint and pictures. They turned out really nice and the kids were excited. We planted nasturtium seeds in peat pots to be planted once they sprouted. I came back a week or so later and we planted the seedlings in the pots. Sadly, I hadn’t thought out what would happen once we watered the plants and moisture seeped through the clay pots. Foolishly, we’d used regular Elmer’s glue and the pots turned into sticky, gooey messes! What a bummer that was – an epic craft fail! Feeling so bad, we quickly made picture frames out of popsicle sticks so the kids would have something to give their moms, so all was not completely lost.

I have learned I can’t knit certain patterns while watching Jeopardy. Last fall I was making these knitted Christmas Tree ornaments. I needed to decrease at the end every so many rows to get the triangle shapes. At the first commercial break, I noticed I forgot to decrease and had an oddly shaped piece. I unravelled back and started again. The next commercial, same thing. Okay, now during Jeopardy, I only do simple stitches or projects.

I was teaching art and crafts to a 7 year old and thought a Jackson Pollock-type painting would be fun. I laid a canvas on her parents’ back porch and had her drizzle and splatter paint on it, but she wanted to do more. So I wrapped her feet in plastic bags and let her slide across the canvas, pushing paint across it. I didn’t think about where the paint would end up besides the canvas. It soaked straight through and stained the concrete porch, along with the girl’s feet since she apparently wore holes in the bags. I was so embarrassed and worried to tell her parents that their porch was stained a greenish-blue and their daughter’s feet looked like they belonged on a Smurf!
Thanks for offering the giveaway, and I enjoyed reading the interview!

My biggest failures involve not using enough fabric. Whether it’s a quilt square or a headband, I have not yet figured out how to get things to come out the size that I want. I’m hoping that I will do better with more experience.

I had recently learned to knit and made a slew of scarves for Christmas presents. I decided to make my loving husband a beanie as my first foray into non-square knitting. Oops! He has a larger head than many, but I overestimated how large…it was longer than needed with a BIG circumference. He still wears it because he loves me, but it looks like he’s wearing gray marshmallows all around his head. 😉

My biggest craft failure was several years ago. I was trying to print fabric with a very complicated multi-colored pattern. The first two colours prints went well, the third bled into the others and by the fifth colours the original pattern was indistinguishable amid the multi-colored swirl of colours.
At the end of 5 hours I decided to print my design on top of the colored fabric, it was a partial success so I left it to dry.

When I returned in the morning the design had disappeared, again! I had used a thinner which just made all the colours run into each other leaving 3 metres of material a mottled ugly brown. The material became a liner for the cats basket!

When I started knitting and crocheting I wanted to get more into the process and spin my own yarn. Since mt MIL was supporting my venture, I Wanted to make her a shawl with yarn I’d made. It was all going well for a beginner and she was pleased when I gave her a hand spun, dyed and knitted shawl. At least until she had been wearing it for a bit and it started to unravel. Literally. The yarn seemed to dissolve before our eyes and the stitches came undone. Made for an interesting kinetic piece instead.

I love to do all kinds of crafts, beading projects, sewing, crocheting, knitting, cross stitch, embroidery and really almost anything hand-made. I made a wedding chest for my neice’s 25th anniversary party. It was more complicated than I ever imagined. I got it made and barely made it in time for the party. I realized that the opening I had made for cards and/or money, etc. was not nearly big enough. It really didn’t help that much. I was so embarrassed when I realized the cards would not fit in the slot. I had worked so hard on this only to fail. My neice said it was beautiful, but I knew it wasn’t useful. It’s the only one I had and have ever made. I don’t know if I’ll ever try anything like that again. I didn’t have clear directions, only by looking at pictures.

I have made many, BIG crafting mistakes – several times over. My mother taught me to sew when I was about 10. I picked out my pattern and material and did it all on my own – from pinning to cutting out through to the hemming by hand. I wore it for the first time and, to my eyes it was perfect. Then I put it in the wash. It was 100% cotton. I had to give it to my little sister. It’s been 50 years and I’m still pissed but I do prewash those cottons!

Let me see…. my biggest craft fail…. hhmmm….. I was trying to cut the side of a t-shirt into strips so i can tie them together to make the shirt a little fitted. Yeah, I didn’t count the # of cuts on each side and so they were not even. Then after i tied the sides together and try on the shirt. it was way too tight and poorly done so I ended up throwing it away.

My biggest fail? I made a long crocheted dress and just finished it in time for a rather large office party. I think I was 18 or 19 at the time and I was very shy. I was so proud of that dress. However, as the night wore on, to my dismay, my dress kept getting longer and longer and longer until I was falling over it. I was so fortified!!

my biggest fail was a vest made form my husband, I finished the back half working on it in simple stages then go tin a time crunch, and worked all night to finish the front. (note to self, if it has a time limit use a bigger needle) the front was about 1 inch smaller all around when I went to sew it together. tension from having to quickly finish it up made my stitches smaller, so it went in the unfinished project bag to stare at me for years. still not completed :(..

I have so many! But the one I can think of that bothered me the most was a sweater I knitted. I struggled with the pattern, a lacy one, and I think I even lost my place a couple of times. But I was determined and kept on knitting. Once it was sewed together I tried it on. The whole thing looked crooked. I tried wearing it, but eventually couldn’t stand it any more. I didn’t want to waste the yarn so I sat patiently and pulled out every stitch! I’m about done with a new, different sweater and its coming together much more nicely 🙂

My biggest craft fail was a sweater that I started about 30 years ago. I did the front of it and about three quaarters of the back and then I set it aside in a box. I came across it recently and discovered that I no longer had the pattern nor do I know where I found it. I now have a project that I can’t complete and to me, that is a failure!

i really thought i was being frugal and smart when i bought paint that was returned. My mistake was i bought outdoor wood paint for my trim. It toke three days to dry. Know i have little hand prints all over the door jams. So funny and failed but i love it.

I once tried to crochet a sweater without a pattern, just freeformed it. It was gorgeous, but so huge, it was wider across than my bed, & totally useless, so I had to unravel it. Unfortunately, I didn’t write down anything I had done, so I wasn’t able to remake it.

My first big flop was the first bootie I made while prego with my first child. It was seven inches long! I persevered and now make them the right size but have to do both in one sitting or they don’t match! l o l.

I think it’s the one I’m working on right now. Making it up as I go along, I’m attempting to knit a skirt from silk ribbon yarn on size 50 needles. I’m used to knitting on 1’s and 2’s, these are ridiculously large and I think I’ll be ripping it out. There have been many fails in my past, but I prefer to leave them there.

My biggest was doing a bridesmaids dress getting it done and then finding out the girl was pregnant and had to take apart and redesign the whole front all over, and try to make it look like the rest. what a job. But love sewing! Lol

When I was in high school ( a million years ago0) I made strawberry scented candles for everyone I knew. There were about 120 little strawberry candles all over the house. Unfortunately I got the flu and was sick for three days and all I could smell was those candles. I still can’t stand the smell of strawberry anything. A child chewing strawberry scented gum sets off memories of that bout of the flu. And of course, pink was no longer a favorite color.

My most memorable fail was my first blanket that I tried to crocket for my friend’s baby. I just couldn’t get it to turn out right no matter what I did and it ended up with 9 sides and looked all kinds of crazy!

I spent the summer with my grandparents and had been crocheting with my gramma and found a sweater pattern I wanted to make. After weeks of work, I was so proud to show my mom, saying so proudly, “See what I made?!” And held up an afghan-sized top large enough for two of me! Lol 🙂 will always be grateful to my gramma for teaching me such an awesome craft I adore <3

My biggest craft fail- trying to customize clothing- with that iron-on webbing stuff and no-sew items. I do not sew. Really. I don’t even know how to thread the needle on a sewing machine- so I thought the no-sew stuff would be easy. and I could make some cute Christmas gifts. I ended up with a sweatshirt/jacket/ that was stiff and so ugly!! Thankfully, I learn quickly to stick with what I know! And I am great at last minute gift shopping!!

I crocheted a flag afghan. Some parts of the stars had only 2 stiches and then a color change. I didn’t understand how to “carry ” the yarn along so I tied off each one. When it was finished , I ended up glueing all those short little knots down (which probably made it scratchy). I gave this afghan as a gift but have never seen it displayed at their house. It probably fell apart once it was washed and they didn’t want to tell me.

I used to decorate cakes and did one for my brother’s wedding. It was a hot, humid summer day and on the way to the wedding, the red, red roses slid off the cake onto the board the cake was on. My brother’s marriage lasted longer than the cake, but not much longer! (he has been happily married to the “right” woman for over 20 years, though!)

My huge failure was trying to make a baby afghan with a deadine only to awake finding that my chihuahua had taken ahold of the ball of yarn all over the house from one room to the other unraveling the afghan as she went, chewing the yarn to pieces. In the future I am giving myself plenty of time to complete a project and making sure I put the project up away from this very naughty and jealous dog of mine. She destroyed it beyond recognition.

My biggest craft failure is not finishing some tings that I have started. My intentions are good, just run our of time. Project isn’t completed in time to give as a gift. I will finish one day, I hope.

My biggest most memorable craft fail was trying to make a afghan bed spread from a rug hook kit I made by crocheting all sorts of scraps of yarn of all types and colors and variegation all around it. It turned out horrible and ultra ugly. Kept it for years for total unknown reasons …perhaps sentimental because I started it when I was 12. Now it’s been kicking around and abused. Tossing it out this week! LOL

My biggest fail was the first time I attempted to make a dress. I couldn’t understand all the directions so I decided I was good enough to design it by myself. Big mistake. I couldn’t get my sewing machine to work so I ended up using the strips of tape you iron on. Not only was my fabric white, but you could clearly see the tape lines through both layers. Where the tape was, it had gotten hard once it cooled. It felt like i had put Popsicle sticks in the dress! I finally looked it over and decided that the project could just be a learning experience!

My biggest craft fail . . . where to start? One of the biggest fails was making a paper mache bowl. I had the perfect bowl for the form and had everything completed but when I went to remove the paper mache from the bowl I dropped it in the sink and the GLASS bowl broke cutting my finger deeply. Lesson learned, only use plastic or non-breakable forms in the future.

Mine was making wreaths with these woody vines climbing up trees in my backyard..not sure if poison ivy is in a vine form but it was something poisonous my arms had all kinds of bumps and blisters and that was then end of my wreath making!

Hi there, My most memorable craft was when I was younger I would paint ceramics. I made a beautiful cinderella ceramic, my grandmother still display’s it in her home to this day. Hope I win these books, they sound wonderful 🙂

My best craft memory ever for me was when I made my husband a big afghan from a whole bunch of scrap yarn that I made into a bunch of granny squares. He took it with him on every single deployment that he took with the US Army…

My biggest/most memorable craft fail was probably my exotic color selection of yarn, of which I made scarves out of, but who would wear it? It was just too bright and too loud and too crazy. I’m still not sure if it appeals to kids even… Here’s a sample: http://craftlantis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/9-13-226.jpg

Lesson learned: You have to be able to select colors that will appeal to others, get outside of your head and what you like, and go for what you know others will like… maybe be more conservative!